Athletics
About
The Elm Middle School athletics program is overseen by Principal Ashley Groeneveld. The school colors are black and red, and the school mascot is the cougar.
Students from all three of our grade levels (6-8) are eligible to try out for teams.
Our Values
Elm's program is based on the belief that interscholastic competition contributes to the development of important traits and values in our students.
By giving their best against athletes from other schools, students learn the importance of preparation, persistence, self-discipline, dedication, attention to detail, teamwork, selflessness, sportsmanship and hard work.
Our Teams
The Elm Cougars compete in basketball, cross country, soccer, softball and volleyball, with boys and girls teams in each sport. There are also popular programs in cheerleading and pom-pons, which are active during boys basketball season. In addition, Scholastic Bowl competitions are held during the girls basketball season.
Students from all three grade levels (6-8) compete on the same team in soccer and softball.
There are separate teams — one for 6th/7th graders and the other for 8th graders — in basketball, volleyball and Scholastic Bowl.
In boys and girls cross country, 6th graders compete against other 6th graders in the final conference meet, and 7th/8th graders compete against other 7th/8th graders. But in cross country meets leading up to the conference finale, all three grades run as one boys team and one girls team respectively.
Our Conference
Elm belongs to the Leyden-Norwood Athletic Conference, where teams compete against other middle and junior high schools in the west suburban Chicago area.
Elm athletes have built a solid record in conference play, winning titles in boys basketball, girls basketball, boys cross country, girls cross country, girls soccer, boys softball and girls softball since 2010. In Elm's inaugural cross country season of 2015, an Elm female runner also won the individual title at the conference tournament.
In addition to competing in LNAC, Elm also participates in the Illinois Elementary School Association in the sport of wrestling.